Sincerity

Definitions:

• being open and truthful; not deceitful or hypocritical
• speaking truly about one's feelings, thoughts, desires
• The quality or condition of being sincere; genuineness, honesty, and freedom from duplicity.

Discussion:
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Quotables:
Collect quotes that relate to this virtue and share them here. Edit the page, and add the quote and author. Then, give a brief explanation of how that quote relates to the target virtue.

• Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue - Confucius
  • This quote said by Confucius, the famous social thinker and Chinese Philosopher summraizes many of the same ideas i have had. He conveys that sincerity is the basis for ever virtue which means it is the basis of life really. When you fu fill another virtue such as compassion, gratitude or even fittness somewhere along the lines you are being sincere to someone. Confucius knows this and is quoted upon his statement.
• Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength.
  George H. Lewes
  • This quote is saying that sincerity (meaning what you say) is very important to have. For if you use sincerity when not thinking shows something about your personality. It shows that you tell the truth even when not consciously thinking about it.
    
    
• A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity. - Robert Hall
  • The quote is telling you that the people you surround yourself with should be people who you trust. For no SINCERITY means the person is not truth worthy for one reason or another.
    
    
• "Well, youth is the period of assumed personalities. It is the time of the sincerely insincere."-Pablo Picasso[http://thinkexist.com/quotations/sincerity/%5D%3C/span%7C
  • This quote by Picasso is based on the notion of the way teens conform to society and pretend to be something they are not. Teens use many false pretenses for others to like them and to "fit in". Young adults put in too much effort to be dishonest and insincere about themselves
    
    
• "You know I say just what I think, and nothing more and less. I cannot say one thing and mean another."
  -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) U.S. poet.
  • Longfellow, in a comprehensive tone, translates to his audience that his sincerity lies within speaking what he thinks. In doing so, he claims he does "nothing more and less," meaning that sincerity cannot be over or under; it has to be just right. In the final sentence, Longfellow states he does not contradict himself. He says what he means, and to him that requires sincerity.
• "How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing." - Albert Camus quote found here
  • Ever heard the saying, "the truth hurts"? This is what idea this quote by Camus is portraying. This does not mean that being dishonest should ever be a virtue to live by because the truth is what is best most of the time. Camus is simply pointing out that a friendship is about caring and looking out for one another and sometimes that means hiding the truth or even lieing "at any cost". The it means nothing part is dwelling on the fact that it is sad that dishonesty has to be partly a condition of friendship, sometimes the truth means nothing.
• Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue-Confucius
  • According to this quote every virtue inside of us has its routes in sincerity. Without sincerity no virtue can be mastered because sincerity and truth is the foundation on which virtues grow and without sincerity,no virtues can flourish.
• “To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful." - Edward R. Murrow
  • This quote actually relates to rhetoric. In order to be persuasive, it is necessary to establish credibility, or ethos. A person can gain credibility and respect by being truthful and showing sincerity. Someone who jokes around all the time and has a reputation for being mendacious will not be believable.
• "We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his **sincerity**.” - Thomas Fuller
  • This quote is giving the reader strong advice to not trust what everyone says, until you can tell whether they are sincere or not.
• "How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing." - Albert Camus
  • Sincerity is defined as being open and truthful. This quote is saying that it is hard to be sincere in a friendship because the truth can be brutal sometimes and not what people want to hear, so it spares no one, including friends. Yet sincerity is essential in a friendship or any relationship because it means that you are trustworthy. This quote brings you to the reality of how important and how serious sincerity really is.

• "I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board."- Henry David Thoreau
  • Thoreau explains that sincere words between people fills the "hunger" of the soul and that material pleasures, like empty words, are not satisfying. He even goes as far as to call pretentious gatherings and words "inhospitable," as if they were stifling or almost toxic to one seeking to live deliberately.

• “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” -Oscar Wilde
  • Wilde is saying that sincerity is dangerous because it leaves those who are sincere to be harmed when they let down their guard. Those who let down their guard completely will end up[ getting themselves killed.

“Men are convinced of your arguments, your **sincerity**, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.” -Albert Camus
-Camus is saying that being sincere as a person, will allow others to take one mroe serious and to understand their values as a person

• “How can sincerity be a condition of friendship? A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing.” -Albert Camus
  • This shows that true friendship deals with truth. Knowing the truth is being sincere. Being sincere is being a good friend. Some need the truth to know who their true friends are. Sincerity means alot to a friend.

• “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” – Douglas Adams
  • Adams suggests that a sincere person has more to give in terms of being of real use than someone simply with resources that can be bought. They should not be taken for granted because they have so much more to the table in business or otherwise.